FAYETTEVILLE - John Calipari has seen enough from his new Arkansas guards to start drawing lines back to two familiar names.
When he talked about Jordan Smith Jr. and JJ Andrews on Sept. 30, Calipari said both freshmen have already shown habits that remind him of Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas, the one-and-done guards who helped push Arkansas to a second straight Sweet 16 last season.
Smith, in Calipari’s view, shares the same kind of gym-to-gym obsession.
"He lives in the gym like Meleek and Darius did," Calipari said of Smith on Sept. 30. "And like other guys that I've had that have elevated as they've gone."
Calipari pointed to Andrews, too, saying the work has shown up in the form of a cleaner shot. He said both guards have made noticeable adjustments to their shooting arcs.
"His arc was too high," Calipari said. "Now he's right in the groove you need to be to be consistent shooting the ball, and Jordan the same - Jordan's [arc] was too low. Now his is in that groove and they're both shooting the ball better."
The Razorbacks’ backcourt picture isn’t limited to the freshman class. Georgia transfer Jeremiah Wilkinson turned heads in the three-point contest at Primetime at the Palace on Oct. 2, and Calipari said his shooting volume has been eye-opening over the summer.
"Jeremiah, he's shooting more than 5,000 shots a week," Calipari said. "And it's on the machine, so it's charted, and I get the charts. 5,000 a week.
The other guys are shooting between 2,500-3,000 a week... by the end of the year, he's going to shoot 85,000 shots. What?
"And I told him, you don't have to make every shot. You can't miss 'em all. You gotta make one or two."
Asked to compare where this team stacks up with his other groups talent-wise, Calipari leaned right into his usual resistance to that conversation.
"You can't say that to me, come on," he joked. "At 80 pros and 15 All-Stars and two MVPs and four No. 1 picks... let these guys play the season and we'll figure [it] out. I do know this: if we win, we've been winning and we've been doing some good things and I'm proud of these guys.
"What we've done over two years... if we break through a little bit, we'll have five or six guys from this team drafted."
Smith and Andrews are among the players who could be part of that group, continuing the NBA pipeline that Calipari has long built.
Arkansas opens exhibition play Saturday, Oct. 24, at Bud Walton Arena against Gonzaga. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. CT, and the game will be streamed on SEC Network+.
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Davion Thompson Could Give Arkansas Backcourt Depth Sooner Than Expected
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For Arkansas, the appeal is not just long-term upside. Backcourt depth is always a priority in the SEC, and Thompsons development against physical play has given the staff more reason to believe he can handle a real role when the season gets rolling. If his adjustment continues at this pace, the Razorbacks may have another young guard who can take some pressure off the veterans and give the rotation a little more flexibility than expected. [Read more 🡒]